Michigan guard Nik Stauskas (11) celebrates with teammates against Virginia Commonwealth in the second half of their third-round game of the NCAA college basketball tournament in Auburn Hills, Mich., Saturday March 23, 2013. Michigan won 78-53. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

AUBURN HILLS -- After two rounds of a packed house at The Palace, Michigan and Michigan State will be moving on to much more cavernous Sweet Sixteen sites -- the No. 4-seed Wolverines to the nearly 100,000-seat Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas, and the No. 3 Spartans to 67,000-seat Lucas Oil Field in Indianapolis.

Both arenas are a far cry from the more than 21,000 seats that were filled at The Palace Saturday's third-round games.

Players and coaches from both Michigan and Michigan State admitted the hometown crowds factored into their success.

"As far as the crowd being missed, I'm not sure if it will be missed," Michigan guard Trey Burke said. "I know we have a lot of alumni around the world. I'm sure that we'll have a pretty nice fanbase in Texas, so I'm looking forward to it."

Advertisement

Michigan's football team opened the 2012 season at Cowboys Stadium against Alabama, but the basketball team didn't stray far from the Big Ten footprint this season.

The jersey appeared to rip around Robinson's mid-section, forcing him to make the switch to the team's alternate No. 12 uniform for the remainder of the game.

"I didn't actually notice it," Robinson said. "I guess when I passed the ball to Trey (Burke) and he knocked down a 3 and I'm running back down the court. He actually told me my jersey was ripped and he told the ref and I looked down and it looked like a cutoff shirt. I'm like 'wow.' So I went to the bench and had to change jerseys."

The Wolverines have worn a multitude of jerseys this season, a trend by many college basketball teams becoming more common each season. Michigan donned its white jerseys for the second consecutive game of the NCAA tournament Saturday.

Odds and ends

Saturday was the first meeting between Michigan and VCU, which had not lost by 20 or more points since 2011. ... Michigan coach John Beilein is now 4-0 in NCAA tournament games played at The Palace, 2-0 with Michigan and the same while at West Virginia in 2006, while the Wolverines are now 7-1 all-time in Auburn Hills. This season marks the first time the school has competed in its home state during the NCAA tournament ... Michigan is the fourth seed to the tournament for the second time in the school's history. The Wolverines were defeated in the second round of last year's tournament by Ohio the last time they were fourth seeded. ... Saturday's attendance, 21,723, was a sellout.